1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a zoom lens suitable for a compact camera.
2. Related Background Art
As a photographing lens for a recent lens shutter type compact camera, a zoom lens tends to be popular. In a zoom lens of this type, a compact and low-cost structure is demanded in correspondence with a compact and low-cost structure of the camera main body. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,929,069 discloses a zoom lens, which is constituted by as a small number of lenses as six lenses, and can attain low cost and a certain compact structure.
However, the zoom lens disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,929,069 is larger than a two-focal point switching lens as a popular lens in a conventional multi-functional compact camera, and the size of a camera itself equipped with this lens is also increased. Since a conventional zoom lens suffers from relatively serious deterioration of performance due to a variation in assembling, a long assembling/adjustment time is required to realize performance as designed, resulting in relatively low productivity.